Anand held by L'Ami; Giri shocks Carlsen

World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by local hopeful Erwin L'Ami in the third round of in group A of 73rd Tata Steel Chess tournament here on Tu

Written by Press Trust of India

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Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands :

World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by local hopeful Erwin L'Ami in the third round of in group A of 73rd Tata Steel Chess tournament here on Tuesday.

With his second successive draw, Anand took his tally to two points out of a possible three and will now play with white against Wang Hao of China ahead of the first rest day in the category-20 round robin tournament between 14 players.

In the shocker of the day, world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway blundered and went down to talented Anish Giri of Holland in mere 22 moves.

The victory with black pieces was Anish's best till date and this was the first time that the Nepal-origin 16-year old scalped a 2800+ rated player.

Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura of United States emerged as the sole leader with 2.5 points at the expense of Alexei Shirov of Spain.

The American took his tally to an impressive 2.5 points out of a possible three and is now a half point clear of Anand, Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia who all share the second spot.

Ten rounds still remain in this super tournament.

Anand played the black side of a Bogo Indian defense and was in a spot of bother in the middle game as L'Ami had better placed pieces ready to cause the damage on the king side.

It took a lot of effort for the Indian ace to find the counter-play and at the same time kept L'Ami's pieces in check.

The game took a decisive turn when L'Ami broke the center and Anand countered it with a timely pawn sacrifice ensuring exchanges that led to a level queen and minor piece endgame. The peace was signed on move 34.

In the "B" group held simultaneously, Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly did well to hold Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine from the black side of a Sicilian defense. Ganguly moved to 1.5 points from his three games. Luke McShane leads this section with all wins so far.

Tania Sachdev yet again impressed in the 'C' group after beating Grandmaster Dariusz Swiercz of Poland.

Tania moved to two points that could have been three had she won an absolutely won position against joint-leader Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine in the second round.

Talking about the game against Anand, L'ami said, "From a purely practical point of view, I knew I was doing unexpectedly well about halfway through."

"I had all my pieces in their positions for a mating attack, I felt, but then he started playing securely in an uncanny way and I didn't even come close. A few pieces were exchanged and my advantage soon vanished completely," the Dutchman concluded.

Anish Giri was in his element in the biggest game of his young career. Going for the Grunfeld defense, the Dutchman found Carlsen on the wrong foot as he went for lesser known paths early in the opening.

Giri eventually capitalized on an optical blunder winning a piece and Carlsen resigned immediately.

"It was a funny game, I did not expect him to go down like this," said Giri after the game adding that, I am sure Carlsen wont lose in similar fashion in next ten years.